vs 13 “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:”
vs 14. “But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.”
Vs 15 Then when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
vs 16 Do not err, my beloved brethren.
vs 17 every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

James has a rebuke for people who excuse themselves by saying this has come from God. You cannot be tempted by God. For instance, if someone has something against another, then we need to be discerning if that is a righteous suggestion that comes from God or is it an accusation that can cause someone to fall away. An accusation is from Satan himself, as he is the accuser of the brethren.

vs 13 “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:”
Because an accusation is from satan Himself. Where does this fit in with us as God’s people? We all at sometime have said “I want to be used of the Lord” What a great desire and I am sure that we are used of Him. What we fail to realise is that we have a jealous satan who says: I want to use people too.Christian, we do let him.

vs 14. “But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.”

Because we have our own lusts, woops do we? yes, It comes from the fall of man. Eve was deceived and man i.e. Adam new exactly what the transgression was. The lust that was in Adam was to know the knowlege of “Good and evil” So man lusteth.
Because of the fall we are two fold in our folly of being drawn away. 1. By our own lusts 2. We can be deceived by being enticed. Notice it is by our OWN lusts.

Ephesians 4:29 Let no corrupt comunication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying , that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
Matt 12:34. O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.

So accusations can come from what is in our hearts to begin with. Yes, it is from the fall of man. No, it does not come from God. Yes it is our responsibility.
To be blunt, our hearts need to be clean so our mouths are. So, with the recognition that our own lusts come from satan. Recognition is just the start of putting things right in our heart. The responsibility lies in us to put our hearts right before God.

Vs 15 Then when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

If we let lust conceive, it will bring sin into our lives. Oh, how we need to be so careful of accusations on others. Or for that matter, any lust in our lives that will lead to sin. The lust is always there. It is letting that lust take over and letting it take seed in our lives that leads to very unpleasant consequences in our lives.

vs 16 Do not err, my beloved brethren.

Who isn’t to err or go astray? The brethren! James realised that people were blaming God for their temptation. An individual will not learn anything edifying from a temptation. Temptation is always there. We cannot learn anything from the lust of man. Lust will always be there. We cannot learn from falling into sin i.e letting sin conceive.

Note: I am not saying that we cannot put things right with God after falling into sin. Falling into sin has it’s consequences.

what can we learn?
1. we can learn that we come from a sinful nature.
2. we can learn that we cannot blame God for our temptation.
3. We can learn not to go our own sinful ways by yielding to our OWN lusts.

Is temmptation the same as testing? What another subject. Temptation comes from the accuser of the brethren. satan himself. Testing comes from God.
What comes from above?

vs 17 every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
God is the Father of heavenly lights. He is the creator of the universe. He is the one that gives salvation and life. He is unchanging.

For you greek scholars: Literally -“Every good act of giving, and every perfect gift is from above.

The former paragraph is the opposite to what satan is. He does not give a good act of giving nor does he give perfect gifts. He will shift to entice us of our own lusts.

The encouragemetn for today is:DO NOT ERR, MY BELOVED BRETHREN

Philip Barrington.
KJV Bible

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